The original issue can be found at: http://www.baptistpress.com/issue-03/01/2017
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Africa: Preparing for the next missions 'epicenter'
by Kevin Rodgers
Date: March 01, 2017 - Wednesday
RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- Historian Richard Bulliet suggests that early Muslims recounted the story of the spread of Islam as if it had one center, like an inkblot diffusing outward from a center that remains set and inexorably stained.
In contrast, when we look at the story of the spread of God's Kingdom, we see something more like shifting epicenters of earthquakes. Sudden, tectonic shifts occur and then shock waves go out from the center to spread the Gospel far and wide.
Once the waves subside, the Kingdom quakes again. The epicenter moves to a new location and shock waves ripple out from there. Interestingly, many of the quakes in history have tended to be more intense, longer lasting, and farther reaching than the previous, as if we are moving toward a final culmination of history.
Thinking of the spread of Christianity in those terms, Jerusalem and Antioch were the first locations in the early church where believers spread out in successive missionary ripples from their initial epicenters. Later, the heart of the Kingdom shifted to North Africa, which later gave way to Rome, then Constantinople and eventually Northern Europe and the United States.
The process was similar in each place: The Gospel came with great dynamism, was followed by a huge missionary sending push, then successive waves and aftershocks eventually subsided until the next event in a different place. Often, the center was squelched by some physical, religious or cultural opposition such as Islam in North Africa, barbarians in Rome or secularism in the West. In each case, the Kingdom seemed as if it had been stopped and then suddenly the next epicenter emerged in a new place.
For decades, missiologists Andrew Walls and Philip Jenkins have been reminding the world that the epicenter of Christianity has subtly moved from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere. Recent data from the Pew Research Center, meanwhile, indicates a decline in evangelical Christianity in the North and the West while the number of believers is drastically increasing in the South and East. One of the most pronounced examples of this shift is Sub-Saharan Africa. Pew projects that nearly 40 percent of the world's Christians will reside there by 2050.
The West, it seems, may no longer be the center of significant Kingdom growth. When one considers the pattern of Christianity, the history of Christian witness in Africa, and the statistical predictions of Africa's exploding Christian population, it seems clear: Potentially one of the greatest waves in all of history could be carried out by the African church. The beautiful feet that bring good news to the last unreached people groups in the farthest corners of the world could very well be African feet.
As someone who has spent half of his life in Africa, that brings me great joy because I believe African Christians are not only some of the sweetest people on the planet, they're also some of the most zealous, toughest and most resilient. They have the heart, the passion and the DNA to finish the task and lead the worldwide church to the very culmination of history before Jesus returns.
Yet, this realization also gives me pause. Although Africans embody many of the necessary qualities to lead the next wave of missions advance, they will need to be theologically equipped for the task. It's necessary to ask, not as a matter of paternalism, "Can they go into all the world?" and if they go, "What gospel will they export?" The window of opportunity is temporary and the African church needs to be mobilized now. Perhaps the greatest gifts we in the West can give to them, and in turn give to the Kingdom, are the gifts of mobilization and theological education.
We need to co-labor with the next generation of African missionaries who will take the Gospel to the ends of the earth, but we also need to help them find ways to be self-sustaining and unlock their own resources and potential in the African church.
In addition, we need to partner with them in theological education and help check the natural drift toward Neo-Pentecostalism and syncretism. We must come alongside them and contribute to African thinkers, writers and theologians by working with African seminaries and providing theological education at the grassroots level. Developing African theologians, church leaders and missionaries will increase their missionary impact with breadth and depth as they ripple out from their own epicenter.
The Lord has well positioned the African church to finish the task, and we are poised to be the facilitators, the mobilizers and the equippers who empower them to complete what we helped perpetuate as a part of our country's own ripple effect. Let's not ignore the signs and the rumblings but prepare Africans to lead out in the next great Kingdom movement.
For more information or to see more stories, go to imb.org.
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Christians in Egypt flee after killings in N. Sinai
by Middle East Correspondent/Morning Star News
Date: March 01, 2017 - Wednesday
ISTANBUL, Turkey (BP) -- Hundreds of Christians continue to flood out of the Egyptian town of Al-Arish in northern Sinai after the third Coptic Christian in a week was gunned down on Feb. 23, reportedly by Islamic State-linked militants.
The mass exodus comes after three Coptic Christians were killed in what appears to be the work of militants making good on Islamic State (IS) threats issued on a Feb. 19 video promising to rid the country of "idolaters." The latest slaying was the seventh killing of a Copt on the Sinai Peninsula in a month.
Reports differ on how Kamel Youssef was killed, but according to the Associated Press, militants stormed his Al-Arish home, then shot and killed him in front of his family. Two days earlier, the body of Saied Hakim, 65, was found Feb. 21 late at night in Al-Arish behind a state-run language school, where he was ambushed and killed by masked gunmen.
Medhat Saied, 45, Hakim's son, was abducted and burned alive, his body found in the same place as his father's, according to local media reports.
No one has claimed responsibility for the three killings, but the consensus is that "Wilayat Sinai," the Sinai Province branch of the Islamic State previously known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, killed the men in a quest to terrorize Christians and push them out of the region.
In the 20-minute video released on Feb. 19, the IS branch vowed to kill all Christians in the Sinai and to "liberate Cairo" from "idolaters."
"The IS video appeared at a strange time, and the killings happened to confirm their threats," Safwat Samaan, chairman of Luxor-based human rights group Nation Without Borders, told Morning Star News. "This raises a lot of questions, like who is behind the killing and who is benefiting."
In the video, a masked speaker clad in camouflage makes his threats clear: "We will chase you. We will put an end to you. You won't escape from us."
The video features a recording of the suicide statement of jihadi Abu-Abdullah al-Masri, also known as Mahmoud Shafiq, 22, suspected in the December bombing of the Al-Botroseya Church in Cairo that killed at least 29 people. The IS speaker said the attack was "only the first."
"There will be more operations in the near future, if God wills it, as you are our first target and our preferred target in our war," he said.
"You followers of the Cross, you traitors of all ties -- know that warriors of the Islamic State are watching you, and our blessed invasion won't be our last on you. Because what's coming is worse and hotter than boiling oil, so wait and see, we will be victorious."
Since Egypt's 2013 coup, the military-run government has been involved in counter-insurgency operations in the Sinai against members of both the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi groups now fighting under the banner of the Islamic State. Military outposts in the Sinai have been the sites of repeated attacks by terrorist groups.
The Egyptian army has had little success making strategic counter attacks or effectively protecting members of the Coptic minority constantly under assault.
A total of six Copts have been killed in Al-Arish, a city of roughly 165,000 people, in less than a month. On Jan. 30, Wa'el Youssef, 35, was shot down at his small grocery store in downtown Al-Arish. The assailants reportedly shot Youssef in broad daylight in front of his wife and one of their two sons.
On Feb. 12, masked militants ambushed another Copt, Bahgat Zakher, 40, as he was driving his car through the southern outskirts of Al-Arish. A group of armed jihadists stopped Zakher then shot him, killing him instantly, according to local media reports.
The third Copt to meet his death at the hands of suspected jihadists in Al-Arish was Adel Shawqy, 57, a day laborer, who was shot on Feb. 13.
On Feb. 16, masked men shot Gamal Girgis, 45, a Coptic schoolteacher and shoe shop owner. They ambushed Girgis while he was tending his shop. The attack happened no more than 220 yards from a heavily defended army post.
The current exodus isn't the only time Copts have been forced to flee Al-Arish in recent history. In July 2013, Coptic villagers fled Rafah, Sheikh Zuwayed and Al-Arish after a priest, Mina Aboud Sharubim, was gunned down, and a Christian businessman, Magdy Lamei, was abducted and killed.
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FIRST-PERSON: What global Christians can teach us
by Chuck Lawless
Date: March 01, 2017 - Wednesday
WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP) -- In various roles, I've been privileged to travel the world, talk to global brothers and sisters in Christ, and learn from them. I may be the professor, but they always teach me. Here are some things we North American Christians can learn from them:
1. The Bible is precious. We who have multiple copies of the Scriptures miss this point. It would do all of us good to spend time with a believer who stays up all night to hear and read the Word of God because he doesn't have his own copy at home.
2. Holiness matters. I've been with some believers around the world who lean toward legalism but seldom have I been with any who are as lax about sin as North Americans tend to be. Global believers often struggle with our apparent brand of non-life-changing Christianity.
3. Worship is more than head-centered. Every culture is different, but I love worshipping with believers who give themselves fully to worship. From the African who jumps when he worships to the Ukrainian who sings with all his might, believers around the world challenge my often-too-stoic approach to worship.
4. Prayer makes a difference. I once stood for two hours praying non-stop with believers in a war-torn part of the world, and they were just getting started. When Christ is genuinely your hope and peace, you understand better the necessity and the value of prayer.
5. Persecution is real. For many believers, persecution is not just somebody else's story on a sheet of paper. It's their story. No article or website can speak the volumes that a believer who's been faithful under persecution can.
6. Church membership means something. I've talked with local church leaders around the globe who shepherd large networks, and they can tell you much of the spiritual state of each believer. They take seriously the need for accountability and growth among believers.
7. North American Christianity is not the center of the Christian world. We tend to think we are, simply because our world revolves around us. Many believing groups around the world, though, have longer histories, more followers and much more to teach us.
8. Heaven will be really sweet. We already know that, but thinking about the peoples of the world gathering around the throne is that much more powerful after meeting many of those folks.
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Okla. disaster relief gets rare recycling unit
by Emily Howsden/The Baptist Messenger
Date: March 01, 2017 - Wednesday
OKLAHOMA CITY (BP) -- Volunteers for Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief are taking steps to ensure they are good stewards of what the Lord has given them.
Following historic floods in Louisiana last August, volunteers served 20,000 meals a day. And some volunteers decided to take action after they saw the amount of cardboard that wasn't being used or recycled.
Sam Porter, disaster relief (DR) director for Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, noted that many meals per day "requires approximately one 53-foot 18-wheeler full of food which is packaged with a mountain of cardboard packaging. They hated seeing all that cardboard just thrown away."
Plans were drawn, funds were raised, and DR volunteers now have a one-of-a-kind cardboard recycling unit. However, how the idea for the machine came into fruition is more complex.
In the midst of serving those affected by natural disasters, Oklahoma DR had neither the time nor resources to focus on developing the unit. This is when Porter mentioned to Dave Norwood of Southwood Baptist Church in of Tulsa, Okla., that if he could raise the money then the element could be added to the DR fleet.
Norwood, a retired electrician, designed a unit with a 10-kilowatt generator, 114-gallon propane tank and cardboard compactor all mounted on a 14-foot custom-made trailer.
In less than three months, the money was raised, and a manufacturer was ready to build the trailer, free of charge. The project was completed in December.
"The company that manufactures these machines said they had never seen a unit like this because what they see usually is stationary in the back of a store, and ours is mobile," Porter said. "It's a good statement from Southern Baptist ministry, to say, you know, we are concerned about people's lives, their possessions and their souls, but also we're concerned about the earth as well.
"God created Adam and Eve and placed every man with dominion over the earth, and it's our responsibility to care for what God has put us in charge of. And we hope it's really something that will catch on."
This unit will be managed by Southern Baptist DR volunteers who are members of the Baptist churches near Tulsa. The primary use of the recycling unit will be at sites of catastrophic disaster deployment where more than 20,000 meals are being prepared daily.
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Trump speech highlights immigration, war on terror
by David Roach
Date: March 01, 2017 - Wednesday
WASHINGTON (BP) -- Discussions of immigration, terrorism and health care were among the highlights of President Trump's first address to a joint session of Congress Feb. 28.
The hour-long address included no mention of abortion, so-called homosexual and transgender rights or religious liberty. It did include calls to "invest in women's health," confirm U.S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch and ensure parents' access to "paid family leave."
The president also voiced support for "the incredible men and women of law enforcement" and seemed to imply some Americans are driving a "wedge of disunity and ... division" between communities and police officers.
Regarding education, Trump advocated a "bill that funds school choice for disadvantaged youth, including millions of African American and Latino children." He added, "These families should be free to choose the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school that is right for them."
Trump mentioned immigration at least three times during the speech.
Reviewing his first month in office, the president said his administration "has answered the pleas of the American people for immigration enforcement and border security." The administration "will soon begin the construction of a great, great wall along our southern border" and has begun removing criminal immigrants from the country, he said.
Later in the speech, Trump announced the establishment of a Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) office at the Department of Homeland Security to assist victims of crimes committed by illegal immigrants. The announcement drew what sounded like an audible negative reaction from some audience members.
In another section of the speech, Trump said America should adopt a "merit-based system" of legal immigration that requires would-be immigrants to have a means of supporting themselves financially. Similar systems are employed by Canada and Australia among other nations and help both citizens and immigrants, he said.
One aim of border control should be to protect Americans from "radical Islamic terrorism," Trump said.
"It is not compassionate, but reckless to allow uncontrolled entry from places where proper vetting cannot occur," Trump said in an apparent reference to his controversial executive order on immigration.
"Those given the high honor of admission to the United States should support this country and love its people and its values. We cannot allow a beachhead of terrorism to form inside America," Trump said.
The Defense Department is developing a plan to "demolish and destroy" the Islamic State terrorist group, Trump said, stating America will work with Muslim allies "to extinguish this vile enemy from our planet."
The president called on Congress to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act. He noted principles "that should guide Congress as we move to create a better health care system for all Americans." Among them:
-- Ensure "access to coverage" for individuals with preexisting conditions and "have a stable transition for Americans currently enrolled in the health care exchanges."
-- "Help Americans purchase their own coverage through the use of tax credits and expanded Health Savings Accounts."
-- Give states "the resources and flexibility they need with Medicaid" to ensure broad access to health insurance.
-- "Protect patients and doctors from unnecessary costs that drive up the price of insurance."
-- "Give Americans the freedom to purchase health insurance across state lines."
"Mandating every American to buy government-approved health insurance was never the right solution for our country," Trump said of the Affordable Care Act. "The way to make health insurance available to everyone is to lower the cost of health insurance, and that is what we are going to do."
The most sustained applause of the night came when Trump acknowledged Carryn Owens, widow of Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens, who was killed in the line of duty during a Jan. 29 raid in Yemen. Referencing John 15:13, Trump said of Ryan Owens, "There is no greater act of love than to lay down one's life for one's friends."
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Lankford sees a 'missional calling' to government
by Brian Koonce/Missouri Pathway
Date: March 01, 2017 - Wednesday
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (BP) -- Sen. James Lankford knows a little bit about experiencing a call from God. He also knows a little bit about resisting that call to be obedient.
"For all of the disciples, Jesus used one simple phrase to call them: 'Come follow me,'" Lankford said during a Great Commission Conference at Ridgecrest Baptist Church in Springfield, Mo. "It wasn't a calling to an occupation, to a place or a task. It was a calling to a person, and each of them had to make a decision to follow."
Lankford was comfortable in his original ministry calling -- leading youth ministry for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and helming the world's largest Christian camp, Falls Creek. Still, God had another calling in store. That call would have him step away from those ministries and, as a political rookie, run in the 2010 Republican primary election for one of Oklahoma's seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
"It wasn't on our radar," Lankford said during his message Feb. 25. "I wasn't even in student council. But God was very specific that this is what He wanted us to do."
Lankford and his wife Cindy prayed about running for office for a month, but he resisted for six more months even as God confirmed the call on his life. Finally, he gave in, admitting he didn't want to be "an old man telling my grandchildren about the time he didn't follow God."
He won the primary and general election to take the seat in the House and was then elected to the Senate in 2014 where he currently sits on the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Indian Affairs.
As he ran for office, people would ask Lankford how he could "leave the ministry."
"I looked them in the face and said the same thing I say today: 'To the best of my ability I'm following Christ.' You may think there's some sort of occupation title I'm supposed to have but I'm convinced there's a certain person I'm supposed to follow, and where He leads me, that's where I'm supposed to go."
In a world where politics is increasingly divisive, Lankford points out that 37 of the 39 books of the Old Testament were written by a political leader, to a political leader, or about a political leader. In the New Testament, nearly a third of the text -- the books of Luke and Acts –– were written to Theophilus, a political leader. The apostle Paul is even singled out a God's messenger to the "Gentile kings."
"There is a sense among some that we as the church should ignore politics," Lankford said. "I just don't find that in Scripture. I find God paying attention to what's happening in government because God cares about people."
Although the church should not be a political arm, he noted it has "a missional calling to be among these people who need to know the love of God" and said "part of my calling is to be the best possible legislator and help solve the issues we face as a nation." Christians should honor those in government, he said, especially those with whom they disagree on the issues.
"If you sound like the rest of the world in the way you speak about government, you lose your opportunity to present the Gospel," he said. "I'm afraid that the church has been drawn into the caustic culture and talks about government the same as everyone else. If all you do is run down the president or other elected officials, you sound just like everyone else. Read 1 Peter: If you want to communicate the Gospel, speak about those in authority with honor."
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Former Gateway Seminary president dies at 81
by Kathie Chute & Art Toalston
Date: March 01, 2017 - Wednesday
This story has been updated since it was initially posted March 1.
ONTARIO, Calif. (BP) -- William O. (Bill) Crews, 81, president emeritus of Gateway Seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention, died March 1 after a brief illness in Vancouver, Wash.
"William O. Crews was a Baptist statesman who profoundly impacted our work in the western United States," said Jeff Iorg, president of Gateway Seminary. "He was a friend and mentor to many, who will miss him deeply. His impact at Gateway Seminary lives on through our emphasis on shaping leaders -- Bill's passion and legacy."
Crews became the sixth president of Gateway Seminary (formerly Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary) in December 1986. He transitioned to the role of chancellor in 2003 and retired from the seminary in 2005.
He subsequently was elected by the Northwest Baptist Convention as executive director-treasurer in 2007, serving until his second retirement at the end of 2012. During the late 1970s, Crews served as the convention's director of communications and editor of the Northwest Baptist Witness.
Crews was pastor of eight churches over a span of 32 years, including the 2,300-member Magnolia Avenue Baptist Church in Riverside, Calif., for eight years and churches in Washington, Oregon and Texas.
He was elected as president of the California Southern Baptist Convention and, earlier, the Northwest Baptist Convention.
During his 18-year tenure as Gateway president, the seminary established new campuses in Phoenix in 1995 and Denver in 1996. The seminary also achieved accreditation approval to offer full master's degrees at all five of its campuses. Enrollment rose to 1,600 students in 2004 from 865 in 1986.
In 2005, the seminary honored Crews by announcing an endowed William O. Crews Chair of Leadership, creating a special section of the seminary library housing leadership books and materials named in Crews' honor, and establishing a "Crews Leadership Award."
Crews was named to the 22-member SBC Peace Committee to study theological strife in the convention when it was formed in 1985, resigning when he became Gateway's president in December 1986. Also in SBC life, Crews served as a trustee for Gateway and the then-Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) and was chairman of the executive boards for both the Northwest and California conventions.
As president emeritus, Crews taught at Gateway Seminary's Pacific Northwest Campus in Vancouver, Wash., until his death. He was active in community service, including the Rotary Club for nearly a half-century, serving in numerous leadership positions.
A native of Houston who grew up in San Angelo, Texas, and preached his first sermon at age 15, Crews held a doctor of ministry degree from Gateway Seminary; a bachelor of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas; and a bachelor of arts degree from Hardin-Simmons University in Texas. He received Southwestern's distinguished alumni award in 1994 and was awarded two honorary degrees in 1987 -- the doctor of humanities degree from Hardin-Simmons and the doctor of divinity degree from California Baptist University.
Crews was led to Christ by a Sunday School teacher called "Mother Boyd" at a Baptist mission across the street which he said was "the formative church in my life," started by a Baptist preacher-carpenter named Wade Campbell who had "a burning dream to form a new church." Crews, in a 1988 article in the former Baptist Program magazine, also noted that the conversion of his father, a truck driver, on the side of the road during a nighttime run "turned our family around."
Frank S. Page, president of the SBC Executive Committee, said Crews was "a great example of a servant leader who grew to love the West and the Northwest."
"Southern Baptists are deeply indebted to him for his long-tenured service to Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary and the Northwest Baptist Convention. Our prayers go out to his family. He will be missed," Page said in a statement to Baptist Press.
The Executive Committee, in a 2005 resolution of appreciation after Crews' retirement from Gateway, noted that he was respected by colleagues and friends "for his integrity, devotion, faithfulness, compassion, warmth, and unflagging commitment to reaching the West for Christ."
In leading the seminary, the Executive Committee noted that Crews' vision "recognized and addressed the need to equip ministers in effectively evangelizing and ministering within the contextual challenges that are unique to the western United States."
At the Northwest Baptist Convention, Randy Adams, the current executive director, recounted that Crews was “a 71-year-old retiree when he was elected. Deeply respected and trusted, Dr. Crews’ service brought needed healing, while leading the NWBC through significant change.
“Until his last days he was looking forward, thinking of the future, always optimistic,” Adams said in a statement to Baptist Press. “His optimism and enjoyment of life was most remarkable when you consider that he outlived both of his children and suffered blows in life that would have laid low most any other man. Bill Crews’ faith in Jesus Christ and his hope of heaven were seen clearly in the way he lived each day.”
Crews is survived by his wife, the former Jo Ann Cunningham. He was preceded in death by a son, Ronald, and a daughter, Rhonda.
A memorial service for Crews will be at 1 p.m. Friday, March 10, at Pathway Church (formerly Greater Gresham Baptist Church) in Gresham, Ore. At Gateway Seminary, a memorial service is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Thursday, March 9, at the Ontario, Calif., campus.